Tyre woes

[Generallee]

Bought some Accelera PHI-r tyres for my '99 V70. They are dreadful in the wet, done around 400 miles on them, car understeers at 15mph in the wet, breaks traction on acceleration and fires the ABS under braking - dangerous ditch finders, but here is the funny bit, I bought a Mustang with 17" Accelera tyres, and it was great in the wet, I upgraded to 18" wheels and again fitted Accelera PHI-r tyres - absolutely fine, handles 300+bhp in the wet, corners and stops fine too... so why are the 205/50/15's so bad on my V70??? Company want to send them back to the manufacturer to test before a refund can be finalized... Paypal are looking at the transaction. Would you send themback for the manufacturer to test? If they find nothing wrong with them, I will get my refund reversed and the tyres returned... :-(

[Clan]

Originally Posted by Generallee

Bought some Accelera PHI-r tyres for my '99 V70. They are dreadful in the wet, done around 400 miles on them, car understeers at 15mph in the wet, breaks traction on acceleration and fires the ABS under braking - dangerous ditch finders, but here is the funny bit, I bought a Mustang with 17" Accelera tyres, and it was great in the wet, I upgraded to 18" wheels and again fitted Accelera PHI-r tyres - absolutely fine, handles 300+bhp in the wet, corners and stops fine too... so why are the 205/50/15's so bad on my V70??? Company want to send them back to the manufacturer to test before a refund can be finalized... Paypal are looking at the transaction. Would you send themback for the manufacturer to test? If they find nothing wrong with them, I will get my refund reversed and the tyres returned... :-(

send them off , get some premium tyres and hope for the best ...

[Generallee]

Yeah, I put some Khumo's on, car is great again.... what I did notice though was that the longitudinal grooves on the 18" are 10mm wide, but on the 15" on my volvo, they are only 5 mm wide, like they have just scaled down the pattern, so smaller tyres will have less width between the tread blocks and so displace less water in wet conditions...

[DaveNP]

I would have been deeply suspicious of Accelera tyres from the start, a case of once bitten.., I had some cheap tyres on a VW many years back, they were OK in the dry and lasted for ages but the slightest bit of wet on the road and even 'normal' driving got scary never mind anything 'spirited'. One of the problems with tyre comparison is also the specific model, the car mags may review the low profile big rim tyres, but as you've found out, how does that relate to a 'normal' profile tyre?
It looks like you've taken them off of the V70 so why not send them back? You've taken the hit of buying more tyres so nothing to loose and who knows you may get your money back on the Accelera's.
I have noticed how some cars react differently to the same tyres, my V70, the wife's Kia Cee'd and my son's Pug 307 are all on Avon ZV7's (local indy does a good deal on them), but her Almera didn't do so well on them and had Michelins which were a significant improvement.

[Generallee]

I would have been suspicious if I hadn't got a set on the Mustang, which is fine in the wet. Khumos are fine now... yeah, I suppose I best return them.

[XC90Mk1]

I really don’t understand why people don’t just buy Michelin, good year, continental etc. They cost an extra 20 quid and last thousands and thousands of miles

[ITSv40]

I have just replaced a pair of Michelin PS3 on the V40 with the same. The ones taken off were getting a bit close and as I have an MOT in a couple of weeks replaced them - otherwise they would have lasted a good bit more.

Anyway looked on the service record and they have done 50,000mls. I'm content with that.

[chelle_belle]

Years back i had a pair of accelera alphas 205 50 16 fitted on the front of my 850 2.5 n/a,
i found them a great tyre, super in the wet,dry, snow and mud, at the time i was doing alot of towing/manovering and got 22000 miles out of them,.

Craig.

[DSK]

1. With all due respect, such brands, are budget and as a result do not have the R&D, quality control and other good stuff that the premium brands do, regardless of sporty name or tread design they may flaunt. There are some budget brands, that are made by subsidaries of the premium manufacturers so will be a better budget option than the independent budget tyres however, these are more costly and won't get bought in generally as people just want the cheapest forcing retailers to stock and supply the cheapest stuff on offer at the time.

I recall a customer ordering a set of Nankang sporty things in 18" some years back (when the brand was just getting popular as a budget offering. When it came to the depot and I picked them up and put them aside, the tread felt like it was pure plastic and never in my years had I come across a tyre like that. There was no way that tyre could perform in the dry let alone in adverse weather!

I'm pretty sure years ago I wrote an article on here detailing tyres in depth and also listed the premium manufacturer subsidaries.

2. Manufacturing processes can change, compounds are subject to change, could be a bad batch etc. From your description, this will probably the most likely cause but, you will never find out.

3. Whilst its logical to assume, tyres should be similar in performance across vehicles, is not always the case as some tyres perform better one one vehicle and far worse than you may expect on another type of vehicle.

As a passing thought, the least I would ever consider is a mid-range brand, such as Falken, Khumo etc but usually Goodyear are priced very and offer superb performance, quality and durability.

All the best with getting your refund and hope you get a set of boots you are happy with.

[xco]

Originally Posted by Generallee

Yeah, I put some Khumo's on, car is great again.... what I did notice though was that the longitudinal grooves on the 18" are 10mm wide, but on the 15" on my volvo, they are only 5 mm wide, like they have just scaled down the pattern, so smaller tyres will have less width between the tread blocks and so displace less water in wet conditions...

I found when I owned my v70 and s60 before that that they both liked a vee pattern tyre.

I would suggest you go to www.camskill.co.uk and check out the Goodyear Vector 4 Seasons.

They are a really superb tyre and at the moment can be had for £79.00 a corner delivered to your favourite indi tyre fitter who will probably fit them for you for a tenner per corner.

I should look towards an XL side wall preferably as these are good at ironing out potholes and bumpy roads and the vee pattern will be very much appreciated by your V70.
Very accurate and goes where you put it.

The beauty of All Season tyres is ...just that!!!

They are all season so you put 'em on and forget about them.

When the weather turns you have no worries they just do their job.
Good in the ice and snow,very sure footed in the wet and no problems in summer.

IMOP well worth a few extra pennies.

We have 4 all round on my wifes C30 D5 se lux Geartronic which goes like a bomb,they have been on for 4 years now and are only just starting to show signs of wear.....Highly recommended in view of the longevity they give.

Hope this helps